Georgetown Medical Students Learn to Communicate with Patient's Families

The Georgetown University School of Medicine is partnering with an HSC Pediatric Center program that provides support for male caregivers of disabled children. This initiative prepares both medical students and caregivers for the challenges they will face in clinical and hospital settings.

“Personally, I think Georgetown is a wonderful addition,” said Oliver Roy, a single father of four boys, two of whom are disabled. He routinely attends the HSC Pediatric Center Program. “I think that the fathers really get a lot out of Georgetown.”

The program, which is called the Health Services for Children with Special Needs (HSCSN) Male Caregiver program, was created in 2006 as a response to low male attendance at Parent Advocate Leader Support (PALS), a similar caregiver support group open to parents of all genders.

Over the course of three months, Male Caregiver grew exponentially, from 7 program participants to 80. After seven months, program organizers decided to extend the weekly support group meeting by an hour because there was so much interest. Male Caregiver currently meets every Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 9 pm. 210 caregivers are currently signed up for the program.

“It fills a niche,” said Cecil Doggette, Director of Outreach Services for HSCSN. “The men didn’t have a forum.”

The program, the only one of its kind in the region, provides a support group setting for the fathers, brothers, grandfathers and family friends of disabled children. Twice a month the program features a guest speaker. Meetings without a speaker are grounded in the information, networking and support the caregivers provide for one another.

Georgetown medical students are among the program’s featured speakers. The Georgetown School of Medicine joined the program in 2008 and, since then, 18 first year students have led presentations at Male Caregiver to satisfy their service learning requirement. Students present on health issues that affect the men themselves, such as high blood pressure, ADHD and depression, while also addressing questions male caregivers might have about their children’s health conditions.

However, the male caregivers aren’t the only ones learning at these presentation nights — through this initiative, the students are able to develop their communication skills as medical professionals.

“It gives them a chance to actually share some of the information that they learn right away. They also learn how to communicate with people who are well,” said Donna Cameron, Director of the Service Learning Module at the Georgetown School of Medicine.

For male caregivers, who often stand by as medical professionals speak directly to their child’s female caregiver, the Georgetown initiative provides the men with an opportunity to practice interacting with medical professionals. It also teaches the students how important it is to include male caregivers in conversations about their children’s treatment and wellness.

“I would hope they would walk away with a better understanding of what fathers go through dealing with children with special needs,” said Roy. “A lot of times you’re so into the books, you forget that there’s a human factor to it.”